Frequently asked questions

Lean construction is a production-focused approach to project delivery centered around maximizing value while minimizing waste. Compared to top-down project management approaches, Lean construction focuses on improving flow, fostering collaboration between teams, and making incremental improvements at every stage of the project. Popular techniques include but are not limited to Last Planner System, 5S, Value stream mapping, Takt planning, Just-in-Time (JIT) delivery, and Kaizen.

The Last Planner System® (or LPS® ) is a holistic Lean construction method for improving flow and production on construction projects, invented by Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell of the Lean Construction Institute. It’s focused on bringing the planning process closer to the people responsible for completing the work (hence why it's called the Last Planner). By getting field teams more actively involved in the construction planning process and giving them the flexibility to adapt to ever-changing circumstances, projects can improve handoffs between trades, catch problems sooner, and keep work flowing without interruption. This more agile approach to construction management drastically increases the likelihood of on-time project delivery over traditional planning methods.

The Last Planner System was invented by Glenn Ballard and Greg Howell because of the ongoing frustrations they were experiencing with productivity and on-time delivery in construction. Glenn and Greg saw the results other industries were achieving with Lean approaches, including how Taiichi Ohno’s Toyota Production System (TPS) was revolutionizing the automotive industry. This prompted an exploration into how these methods could be adapted and applied to the needs of the construction industry. After several iterations, the Last Planner System came to life.

The Last Planner System is broken into 5 connected stages: What should get done, what can be done, what will be done, what did get done and what the team has learned throughout the process. The plan starts high-level with less information at the Master planning stage, where milestones and key objectives are set, ending on daily coordination which is short term and highly detailed. Learn more about the stages of the Last Planner System.

The Last Planner System improves construction scheduling reliability by taking input from decision makers closest to the work unfolding and having the flexibility to adapt to changes and constraints as they unfold in real-time on construction projects.

Core principles that make the Last Planner System effective:

• Getting more detailed in planning as the work approaches rather than trying to plan for every variable at the start of the project.
• Prioritizing keeping work flowing at a steady pace by identifying and removing constraints and bottlenecks before interruption occurs.
• Ensuring ground-level decision makers are actively participating in the planning process and holding them accountable to the decisions they make.
• Fostering a culture that emphasizes fixing systems rather than blaming individuals. Deliberately looking for improvements at each project stage.

Check out Nialli’s blog for helpful resources on leveraging the Last Planner System. We also recommend joining a Lean Community of Practice or leveraging free online resources such as the Lean Construction Blog.

Nialli Visual Planner fully aligns with each stage of the Last Planner System, helping organizations digitally enhance this proven process.

Here’s how this translates to each stage of planning:

• Master planning – set milestones in Nialli Visual Planner and assign them to different project lanes. Milestones and activities can also be imported in from a Master schedule to speed up planning.
• Phase planning – multiple collaborators can use the phase planning mode in Nialli Visual Planner to map out workflows, show dependencies, establish conditions of satisfaction, and identify constraints.
• Make-ready planning – Nialli Visual Planner allows users to drag-and-drop activities from the phase plan directly into the weekly schedule, while keeping data tied together for reporting.
• Weekly planning – Teams can see a day-by-day breakdown of work in a visual weekly format with each trade assigned a different color of sticky note tag. Multiple users can be added to the plan for simultaneous collaboration in Nialli Visual Planner.
• Daily huddles – Trades can quickly status their daily activities from their personal devices or using twist gestures on an interactive display. This data is automatically captured in PPC and Reasons for Variance reporting.
• Continuous improvement – Nialli Visual Planner captures data throughout the planning process, helping teams understand exactly how work progressed at each stage of the project.

Learn more about how Nialli Visual Planner aligns to the Last Planner System.

Sticky notes are a great starting point for learning the Last Planner System. However, you may soon find yourself encountering limitations that make using a digital tool like Nialli Visual Planner a better fit for your project.

These reasons include:

• Struggling to capture accurate project data
• Inability to collaborate with remote participants
• Too much time spent manually writing out and shifting tags around
• Running out of physical space to plan further ahead on your project
• No backup or redundancy for your data
• No ability to view or edit your plan away from the site trailer
• No way to compare your results against other projects

Alignment between construction planning and execution is a common problem across the industry! Information siloes between office-based teams (schedulers, estimators, engineers, project leaders) and field-based teams (superintendents, trades, construction managers) is often the culprit.

A practical way to improve alignment between these two groups is to ensure the plan is in a format that’s visual, easy to follow, and simple to update for field-based teams. These individuals do not spend their day in front of a computer, so they need tools that are mobile-friendly and easy to use.

On the other side, office teams often struggle to get back information on what transpired at the field level so they can improve estimates and schedules for future bids. When accurate data can be captured at the ground-level without impeding the flow of work or adding unnecessary administration, everyone wins.

For these reasons, Nialli Visual Planner is a great tool for aligning teams responsible for planning and execution.

Rework is often a symptom of poor coordination, unclear handoffs, or work starting before teams are truly ready. In many cases, it’s not that the plan doesn’t exist — it’s that it isn’t clear, shared, or realistic.

A good place to start in reducing rework is to improve how planning is done and communicated across the team.

This includes:

• Involving trades in the planning process, so they can identify constraints and commit to their work
• Clearly sequencing activities and dependencies, so handoffs between trades are understood
• Making the plan visible and easy to follow, especially for field teams
• Ensuring work is ready before it starts, rather than reacting to issues after they happen
  
  

Approaches like the Last Planner System are designed to support this by focusing on reliable commitments and better coordination between teams.

It’s also important that the plan can be easily updated as conditions change. When teams are working from outdated or inconsistent plans, the risk of rework increases significantly.

By using a more visual and collaborative planning approach, teams can identify issues earlier, improve coordination between trades, and reduce the likelihood of work needing to be redone. Tools like Nialli Visual Planner support this by helping teams plan together, track commitments, and stay aligned as the project progresses.

Poor schedule visualization is a common challenge across construction projects. Many teams rely on tools like Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project, which are powerful, but not always easy to interpret or use in a collaborative setting, especially for field teams.

One of the biggest issues is that these schedules are often built for reporting, not for day-to-day execution. They don’t always reflect how work actually flows across zones, floors, or trades, and they can be difficult to use in real-time planning conversations.

A more effective approach is to present the schedule in a way that is:

• Visual and easy to understand at a glance
• Organized by how work actually happens on site (zones, sequences, trades)
• Interactive, so teams can engage with it together

This is why many teams adopt pull planning using sticky notes. It is intuitive and collaborative. However, physical boards can be difficult to maintain and don’t always translate well beyond the in-room planning session.

For these reasons, tools like Nialli Visual Planner help bridge the gap by combining the visual, collaborative nature of traditional planning methods with a digital format that’s easier to maintain, update, and share across teams.

Frequent schedule changes are a reality on most construction projects, whether due to weather, delays, material issues, or shifting priorities. The challenge isn’t the change itself, but how difficult it can be to adjust the plan and keep everyone aligned.

Traditional scheduling tools can be time-consuming to update, and changes aren’t always visible to the broader team in real time. On the other hand, manual methods like sticky notes allow for flexibility, but require constant rework and can quickly become outdated.

To better manage schedule changes, teams need a planning approach that allows them to:

• Make updates quickly and easily
• See the impact of changes across the schedule
• Ensure all stakeholders are working from the most current plan

This often means updating the plan during planning sessions, rather than after the fact, and making sure that changes are visible to both field and office teams.

By using a more visual and collaborative planning method, teams can respond to changes more effectively and reduce the risk of misalignment between trades. Nialli Visual Planner supports this by making it easier to adjust plans in real time while keeping everyone aligned on the latest version.

Communication challenges between trades is another common issue on construction projects. In many cases, the problem isn’t a lack of communication, but rather a lack of shared visibility into the plan.

When trades are working from different versions of a schedule, or only receiving information second-hand, coordinating work becomes difficult. Dependencies can be missed, and issues often aren’t identified until work is already underway.

Approaches like the Last Planner System help address this by bringing trades together into a shared planning process. Instead of being told what to do, trades actively participate in building the plan and committing to their work.

To improve communication, teams should:

• Create a shared, visible plan that all trades can access
• Involve trades directly in planning sessions
• Clearly show dependencies and sequencing between activities
• Regularly review and update the plan together

When everyone is aligned around a single, shared plan, communication becomes more natural and effective. Tools like Nialli Visual Planner help support this process by providing a central, visual platform where all stakeholders can collaborate and stay aligned.

Big Room planning in construction is a collaborative approach to project management that involves having stakeholders from across a construction project come together to work in a communal collaboration space. Having everyone in the same space speeds up decision-making, reduces miscommunication, and lowers the likelihood of error. In a Big Room space, everyone has access to the same information, often displayed on large planning boards or displays in a visual, easy-to-follow format.

You may hear a Big Room referred to as an Obeya. This is the Japanese translation. Big Room planning originates from Japan and is used extensively in Lean manufacturing.

Poor communication is the root cause of delays and cost overruns across the construction industry. According to research by PlanGrid and FMI, miscommunication and poor project data account for 48% of all rework on U.S construction sites.

Big Room planning improves project delivery by addressing the following barriers to effective communication and collaboration:

Creating a Big Room that is digitally enabled has several benefits including remote participation, access to information and redundancy.

The biggest challenge with conventional Big Room planning using sticky notes and whiteboards is extracting accurate information from your planning sessions. Someone must manually summarize what’s occurred in each meeting, activity cards must constantly be written out and shuffled around, and calculating week-over-week progress is error-prone and laborious. This becomes especially challenging on large or complex projects.

There are many benefits to using software like Nialli Visual Planner for Big Room collaboration:

• Remote accessibility: Enable real-time collaboration for off-site stakeholders and field teams. Mobile access allows crews to verify information and update progress instantly, reducing unnecessary trips between the jobsite and the Big Room.
• Seamless data capture: Capture high-quality data automatically during the planning process. Standardizing this data across projects reduces administrative overhead and fuels continuous improvement through better analytics.
• Unlimited planning space: Move beyond the constraints of physical boards. An infinite digital workspace allows for longer-lookahead windows and frees up physical office space, reducing real estate costs.
• Efficient workflow management: Save time in meetings by importing information from your master schedule and using digital tools to copy or shift tasks instantly. Trades can pre-populate activities in the staging area ahead of meetings, reducing clerical work.

Besides choosing the right software to support your Big Room planning needs, there are several other technological considerations to be made when it comes to creating a digital Big Room:

• Large-format displays — Teams need to be able to see detailed schedules, dashboards and building plans. Large TV screens can suffice, but touchscreen displays will provide a more interactive experience. Also be sure to invest a computer setup capable of running multiple displays.
• Videoconferencing setup — To allow for effective remote participation, you need to ensure your room is equipped with solid cameras, microphones and speakers to capture in-room conversations. Ease of use is also critical, so consider investing in options that allow participants to join meetings with one click like Microsoft Teams Rooms or Zoom Rooms.
• Wireless network and power — Ensure your space has enough internet bandwidth to handle multiple collaborators, as well as ample power outlets to keep phones, tablets and laptops charged throughout the day.

To include remote participants in Big Room meetings in construction, consider collaborative software like Nialli Visual Planner that supports multiple users engaging with the plan in real time, from any location. Additionally, you will want to invest in your audio-visual setup to ensure remote participants can hear and see what’s taking place in the room. This includes high quality microphones and speakers, one or more cameras to capture multiple angles in the room, and a mechanism to allow users to quickly join from their conferencing platform of choice. We recommend configuring your space as a Microsoft Teams Room or a Zoom Room to facilitate this.

To learn more about enabling your Big Room for remote collaboration, check out Nialli’s recommended hardware guide.

Choosing the right planning tool often comes down to how well it supports the way your team actually works on site.

Many construction teams today are stuck between two extremes. On one hand, traditional scheduling tools like Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project are powerful, but can be difficult for field teams to use in day-to-day planning. On the other hand, manual methods like sticky notes are easy to use and highly collaborative, but can be hard to maintain, scale, and keep aligned with the broader project.

Nialli Visual Planner was designed to bridge this gap.

It combines the simplicity and collaboration of traditional pull planning methods with the structure and accessibility of a digital tool. The result is a planning approach that is:

• Visual and easy for trades and superintendents to understand
• Collaborative, allowing teams to plan together in real time
• Flexible, making it easier to adapt to changes on site
• Accessible, so both field and office teams can stay aligned

Because it’s built specifically for construction teams and aligned with the Last Planner System, Nialli supports the way projects are actually planned and executed, not just how they’re reported.

For teams looking to improve coordination, reduce rework, and keep projects on track, Nialli Visual Planner provides a practical, easy-to-adopt solution that fits naturally into existing workflows.

Nialli Visual Planner is designed to work across a wide range of project sizes, from smaller jobs to large, complex builds.

It’s best suited for active construction projects where multiple teams need to coordinate work in real time.

On smaller projects, teams often use it to improve day-to-day coordination and run more effective planning sessions. As projects grow in size and complexity, the value increases, especially when work is divided into multiple zones, phases, or buildings.

Paper-based planning methods, like sticky notes on a board, are widely used in construction for a reason...they’re visual, collaborative, and easy for field teams to understand. In fact, approaches like the Last Planner System were built around these types of workflows because they help teams plan together and identify issues early.

However, paper planning can become difficult to manage as projects grow in size and complexity.

Some common challenges with paper-based approaches include:

• Plans need to be manually updated, which can be time-consuming
• It’s difficult to share updates beyond the room
• There’s no easy way to capture data or track performance over time
• Changes can lead to significant rework, especially when many activities are affected

Digital planning tools build on the strengths of paper while addressing these limitations. They allow teams to maintain the same visual, collaborative approach, but with added benefits like real-time updates, improved accuracy, and better communication across stakeholders.

Nialli Visual Planner is designed specifically with this in mind. It mirrors the familiar look and feel of sticky note planning, making it easy for teams to adopt, while adding the ability to:

• Update plans quickly as conditions change
• Keep field and office teams aligned on the same version
• Maintain visibility across multiple planning areas or phases
• Capture data to improve future planning and performance

In practice, many teams see Nialli as a way to keep what works about paper planning - simplicity and collaboration - while removing the limitations that make it harder to scale and sustain over the life of a project.

There are many digital tools that support pull planning and the Last Planner System, but they tend to fall into two categories: traditional scheduling tools that can be harder for field teams to use, or flexible whiteboards that work well for planning sessions but are harder to maintain day-to-day.

Nialli Visual Planner is designed to sit between those two.

It combines the visual, collaborative nature of sticky note planning with the structure needed to manage the plan throughout the project. This makes it easier for teams to move from planning into execution without switching tools or duplicating work.

What sets Nialli apart is that it’s built specifically for how construction teams work. It’s intuitive for field teams, supports real-time collaboration, and helps keep everyone aligned as plans evolve.

In practice, teams choose Nialli when they’re looking for a tool that not only supports planning sessions, but also helps carry the plan forward into execution in a simple and consistent way.

Excel is a familiar and flexible tool, and many construction teams use it for basic scheduling or tracking. For smaller or less complex projects, it can work well.

However, Excel starts to break down when projects require real-time coordination between multiple trades since it’s not built for collaborative planning. Typically, one person updates the schedule, which makes it difficult to use in live planning sessions or keep everyone aligned on the latest version. It’s also less visual, which can make it harder for field teams to quickly understand and act on the plan.

As schedules change, updates can become time-consuming, and it’s easy for teams to end up working from outdated information.

For these reasons, many teams move toward more visual, collaborative planning approaches, especially when using methods like the Last Planner System. Tools like Nialli Visual Planner build on the flexibility of Excel, while making it easier to plan together, adapt to changes, and keep both field and office teams aligned.

The Critical Path Method (CPM) is a widely used approach for building and managing construction schedules. Tools like Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project use CPM to map out task sequences, durations, and dependencies, helping teams understand the overall timeline of a project.

CPM is valuable for high-level planning and forecasting, but it can be harder to use for day-to-day coordination on site. These schedules are typically managed by a smaller group and aren’t always easy for field teams to engage with directly.

Nialli Visual Planner is designed to complement CPM, not replace it.

While CPM defines the overall schedule and contractual commitments, Nialli focuses on how that plan gets executed in the field. It provides a more visual, collaborative way for teams to break down the schedule into manageable work, coordinate between trades, and adjust plans in real time.

In practice:

• CPM helps you understand what should happen and when at a high level
• Nialli helps teams plan how the work will actually happen day-to-day

By using both together, teams can connect high-level scheduling with field-level execution, improving coordination, communication, and overall schedule reliability.

Both Nialli Visual Planner and tools like Miro support visual, collaborative planning.

Miro is a flexible digital whiteboard, which makes it well-suited for brainstorming, workshops, and early-stage pull planning sessions.

Nialli, on the other hand, is designed specifically for construction teams to manage planning and execution throughout the project.

In practice:

• Miro is great for flexible, creative planning sessions
• Nialli is built to carry the plan forward and keep teams aligned day-to-day

Teams often choose Nialli when they need more structure, consistency, and ongoing coordination beyond the initial planning session.

Both Nialli and Hoylu support collaborative planning and digital pull planning workflows.

Hoylu is often used as a collaborative whiteboarding and planning tool, particularly for Big Room environments and workshops.

Nialli is designed to support the full lifecycle of planning and execution, with a strong focus on usability for field teams and ongoing coordination.

In practice:

• Hoylu is strong for facilitating planning sessions
• Nialli is built to manage and maintain the plan throughout the project

Teams typically choose Nialli when they want a solution that is easier to adopt in the field and more focused on day-to-day execution.

Both Nialli and Outbuild aim to improve construction planning and scheduling.

Outbuild is a more schedule-centric platform, focused on connecting CPM schedules, lookaheads, and analytics in one system.

Nialli is more focused on collaborative, visual planning at the field level, helping teams coordinate work and adapt in real time.

In practice:

• Outbuild focuses on connecting and managing schedules
• Nialli focuses on how teams plan and coordinate work on site

Teams often use Nialli when they want to improve field-level collaboration and bridge the gap between planning and execution.

Both Nialli and Touchplan are purpose-built tools for the Last Planner System and pull planning.

Touchplan is widely used for creating structured pull plans and turning them into commitments, with a simple interface designed for planning sessions.

Nialli takes a similar approach but places a stronger emphasis on visual planning, ease of use for field teams, and maintaining the plan over time.

In practice:

• Touchplan is strong for structured pull planning workflows
• Nialli focuses on making planning more visual and easier to manage throughout execution

Teams often choose Nialli when ease of adoption and ongoing usability across the project are priorities.

Both Nialli and Visilean are built to support Lean construction and the Last Planner System.

Visilean places a stronger emphasis on integrating planning with BIM, data, and analytics, often appealing to teams focused on digital project integration.

Nialli focuses more on simplicity, usability, and real-time collaboration for field teams.

In practice:

• Visilean leans toward data integration and analytics
• Nialli prioritizes ease of use and team adoption on site

Teams typically choose Nialli when they want a tool that is quick to adopt and easy for trades and superintendents to use daily.

Both Nialli and vPlanner support the Last Planner System and collaborative planning.

vPlanner offers a feature-rich platform with multiple views, advanced metrics, and strong integration capabilities.

Nialli focuses on keeping the planning process simple, visual, and easy to use, especially for field teams.

In practice:

• vPlanner provides depth in features and analytics
• Nialli emphasizes simplicity and usability in day-to-day planning

Teams often choose Nialli when they want a more intuitive, easy-to-adopt solution that aligns closely with how planning happens on site.

Coordinating multiple crews on a construction project can be challenging, especially when work is happening across different areas, trades, and timelines. Without a clear, shared plan, it’s easy for crews to get out of sync, leading to delays, conflicts, and rework.

A big part of the challenge is that crews are often working from different information or different versions of the plan, and dependencies between trades aren’t always visible.

Nialli Visual Planner helps address this by providing a single, shared planning environment where all crews can see how their work connects.

With Nialli, teams can:

• Organize work by zones, areas, or phases, so it’s clear where each crew is working
• Clearly show dependencies between trades, helping teams understand sequencing and handoffs
• Collaborate in real time during planning sessions, so everyone is aligned on the plan
• Update the plan as conditions change, keeping all crews working from the latest information

Because the plan is visual and easy to follow, it’s accessible for both field and office teams, helping ensure that everyone is aligned—not just during planning meetings, but throughout execution.

By improving visibility, coordination, and communication between crews, Nialli Visual Planner helps teams reduce conflicts, stay on schedule, and keep work flowing smoothly across the project.

Communication challenges between trades are common on construction projects, especially when teams are working from different information or only receive updates second-hand.

A big part of the issue is that there isn’t always a shared, visible plan that everyone can align around. Without that, dependencies can be missed, and coordination issues often don’t surface until work is already underway.

Nialli Visual Planner helps improve communication by giving all trades access to a single, shared planning environment where they can see how their work connects.

With Nialli, teams can:

• Collaborate in real time during planning sessions, so trades are involved in building the plan
• Clearly see dependencies and sequencing between activities
• Keep the plan updated as conditions change, so everyone is working from the latest information
• Provide visibility to both field and office teams, reducing miscommunication

Because the plan is visual and easy to follow, it becomes a central point of alignment for all trades. This helps teams identify issues earlier, coordinate more effectively, and reduce the risk of miscommunication impacting the schedule.

Scheduling conflicts on construction projects often happen when trades are not fully aligned on sequencing, dependencies, or where work is happening. In many cases, these conflicts aren’t identified until work is already underway.

A big part of the issue is that plans are either not visible to everyone or not updated in real time, making it difficult for teams to stay coordinated.

Nialli Visual Planner helps reduce these conflicts by providing a shared, visual plan that all teams can align around.

With Nialli, teams can:

• Clearly map out dependencies between trades, so sequencing is understood upfront
• Organize work by zones or areas, reducing the risk of crews overlapping in the same space
• Collaborate during planning sessions to identify and resolve conflicts before work begins
• Update the plan as conditions change, keeping everyone aligned on the latest version

By improving visibility and coordination, teams can catch potential conflicts earlier and adjust before they impact the schedule. This helps reduce disruptions on site and keeps work flowing more smoothly across trades.

Managing work across multiple zones or buildings can quickly become complex, especially when different trades are working in parallel or moving from one area to another. Without a clear structure, it’s easy for teams to lose visibility into where work is happening and how it connects.

Nialli Visual Planner helps manage this by allowing teams to organize plans by zone, area, or building, making it easier to break down complex projects into manageable sections.

With Nialli, teams can:

• Create separate planning areas for different zones, floors, or buildings
• Clearly see how work is progressing within each area
• Coordinate handoffs between zones, so trades move efficiently from one area to the next
• Maintain visibility across all areas while still focusing on the details of each plan

Because the plans are visual and easy to navigate, teams can quickly understand where work is happening and how different areas connect. This helps improve coordination, reduce overlap between crews, and keep work flowing smoothly across the entire project.

Digital pull planning builds on the same principles as traditional pull planning—bringing trades together to collaboratively plan work, identify constraints, and commit to achievable timelines—while using a digital format instead of a physical board.

Nialli Visual Planner is designed to support this process by replicating the familiar experience of sticky note planning in a digital environment.

With Nialli, teams can:

• Collaborate in real time during pull planning sessions, whether in the same room or remotely
• Create and organize activities visually, making it easy to sequence work and identify dependencies
• Adjust plans quickly as discussions evolve, without the need for manual rework
• Maintain a clear, shared version of the plan that can be accessed after the session

Unlike physical boards, digital pull planning with Nialli makes it easier to carry the plan forward into execution. Teams can continue to update the plan, track progress, and stay aligned as conditions change.

This allows teams to keep the collaborative benefits of pull planning while improving visibility, flexibility, and consistency throughout the life of the project.

Frequent schedule changes are a reality on most construction projects, whether due to weather, delays, or shifting priorities. The challenge isn’t the change itself, but how difficult it can be to adjust the plan and keep everyone aligned.

In many cases, plans are either slow to update or not visible to the full team, which can lead to misalignment between trades and downstream disruptions.

Nialli Visual Planner helps teams respond to change more effectively by providing a visual, shared plan that can be updated in real time.

With Nialli, teams can:

• Quickly adjust activities during planning sessions as conditions change
• See the impact of those changes across the plan
• Keep all stakeholders aligned on the most current version
• Maintain coordination between trades, even as plans evolve

Because the plan is easy to update and accessible to both field and office teams, changes can be managed proactively rather than reactively.

By making schedule changes more visible, manageable, and collaborative, Nialli helps teams stay aligned and reduce the disruption that often comes with constant change.

Nialli Visual Planner is designed for team collaboration, so there isn’t a fixed limit on how many people can use it at the same time.

From a licensing perspective, Nialli is not priced per user. Each plan can have an unlimited number of users collaborating.

In practice, this means:

• You can add your entire project team—superintendents, trades, PMs, and stakeholders, and each user can be assigned the appropriate access level
• Multiple users can work on the same plan simultaneously, with updates visible in real time
• Teams can join from multiple devices and locations at once (Big Room, laptops, tablets, etc.)

The actual number of people interacting at one time often depends more on your setup (e.g., screen size, room layout) than the software itself.

In short, Nialli is built to support as many collaborators as your project requires, making it easy to involve the full team in planning and keep everyone aligned.

Nialli Visual Planner uses a flat, project-based, annual subscription model, rather than charging per user. Pricing is based on the number of plans (planning areas) in your project.

The number of plans required depends on the size and complexity of your project. Smaller projects may only need one or a few plans, while larger or more complex projects require more plans.

Each Nialli Visual Planner subscription includes everything your team needs to plan, collaborate, and stay aligned.

• Intuitive, easy-to-use interface for quick adoption
• Mobile field view app for access on site
• Administration portal to manage users and plans
• Power BI reporting for performance insights
• Knowledge base and support when you need it
• Unlimited users so your full team can participate

Together, this provides a complete solution for visual planning, real-time collaboration, and project coordination.

Additional costs may be incurred for services including advanced onboarding, implementing single sign-on (SSO) and utilizing Nialli's API. 

Nope! Nialli is proud to offer a transparent, flat annual pricing model that is not tied to company size, revenue or project metrics.

Getting started with Nialli Visual Planner is a straightforward process, and typically begins with a conversation to understand your project and needs.

Most teams purchase Nialli by:

• Booking a demo
  This allows you to see how the platform works and discuss your specific project requirements with the team
• Starting a free trial
  Nialli offers a 30-day trial so you can test it on a real project before committing
• Requesting a custom quote
  Pricing is based on the number of plans and project scope, so most teams receive a tailored quote rather than purchasing off-the-shelf

Because the platform is web-based, there’s no installation required. You can get started quickly once your subscription is set up.

Nialli Visual Planner uses a plan-based licensing model, rather than charging per user.

Licensing is based on the number of plans (planning areas) in your project, and each plan can have an unlimited number of users collaborating. This means you’re not paying for individual seats. Instead, you’re paying based on how your project is structured, such as the number of zones, phases, or buildings you need to manage.

Because users are unlimited, it’s easy to involve your full team without worrying about additional costs as more people participate.

Overall, the model is designed to be simple and scalable, aligning pricing with the structure of your project rather than the number of people using the system.

In Nialli Visual Planner, a plan represents one digital planning canvas or workspace. Each plan includes all stages of the planning cycle and allows for any number of individual users to be added. 

A single plan license will likely be sufficient for managing the full scope of a small or midsized project. With large or complex projects, it is best to break work into manageable sections across several plans, rather than crowding too much information (and people!) into a single plan. Typically, larger projects are divided out by stage or section of work - such as a zone, floor, building or phase of construction. 

The number of plans you need depends on how your project is structured and how you want to manage the work.

In Nialli, a plan typically represents a planning area, for example, a zone, floor, building, or phase of work. The goal is to break the project into sections that are manageable and make coordination between trades easier.

On simpler projects, you might only need one plan for a project. On more complex projects, it’s common to use multiple plans organized by zone, floor, or building, or separate plans for different phases or workstreams.

A good rule of thumb is to create separate plans when:

• Different teams or trades need to collaborate independently of one another
• Coordination becomes difficult in a single view
• The scope is large enough that breaking it down improves clarity

Ultimately, Nialli Visual Planner provides licensing flexibility and the right number of plans is the one that makes the work easiest to understand, manage, and coordinate. Many teams start simple and add additional plans as the project grows or becomes more complex.

Yes! Nialli offers a full featured, 30-day free trial for Nialli Visual Planner. If you need to run a longer proof of concept, please contact our sales team.

Because Nialli Visual Planner is fully web-based, it can be used on a wide variety of devices running the latest version of the Google chrome browser (or Safari on iOS). Supported devices include interactive displays, Macs, PCs, tablets, and mobile phones. When users log into Nialli on a mobile device or tablet, they will automatically be routed to a dedicated field view (simplified version of the application designed for users in the field).

To see if your specific device or browser will work, check out our full listing of supported devices.

If you can fill out a sticky note, you can use Nialli software! Nialli Visual Planner is very quick to learn as the application is purpose-built for hands-on collaboration in the field, making it easy for trades and new users to master in minutes. Our Getting Started for Trades video covers everything field users need to know on how to get started in under 5 minutes.

All Nialli subscriptions include our Getting Started support package which includes initial setup and configuration of your licenses, a 30-minute introductory call, access to the Nialli Knowledge Hub, and technical support by phone or email.

However, we recommend our Project Enablement package when customers or projects are new to using Nialli. This package includes deeper configuration of your account, role-based training for project teams, a dedicated customer success manager, and guided support during your first planning sessions. Reach out to our sales team for additional information and pricing.

Nialli Visual Planner currently offers the ability to import milestone and activity data from a master schedule (such as Oracle P6 or Microsoft Project) directly into your plan via a .csv upload.

Your planning data can also be exported from Nialli Visual Planner via PDF, Excel or Microsoft Power BI for reporting or to link with other data sources.

More advanced and automated integration is also possible with Nialli’s API. Contact our support team to get access to our development documentation.

The legal and privacy policy section of our website has detailed documentation on Nialli's security practices. If you need additional information, please reach out to support@nialli.com.